Originally Posted by
hoipolloi
Fair observation. Just pointing out the "take away from the people beneath me so I can have more" attitudes.
There are many alternative adjustments they could and that would benefit everyone, such as adjusting maximum visit lengths, flight schedules...
There was a period in 2018/2019 (winter schedule) where the shortest possible connection for SFO-YYZ-MUC was 6 hours. The
shortest. Believe me, there are many places I'd have rather be than the Signature Suite (such as my bed).
Then there are lounges that do this like NZ (once again, I had the shortest possible connection, and they wouldn't let me in - what a great experience
). Or Centurion, where my MO is go to the airport when there's a lull in work, grab a drink, THEN change my flight. But if your internet connection is poor, you end up standing at the damn lounge counter while they tell you that you can't come in for another 4 and half minutes, while trying to frantically move your flight to the earlier one that you were hoping you could do while relaxing with a glass of bubbly. Or going to find a customer service desk. Either way, not a very premium experience.
Maximum visit lengths just do not work well.
And I'm deliberately using pre-COVID examples so you can't use COVID as an excuse here.
Originally Posted by
hoipolloi
...as well as expanding size of lounges or alternatives like Air Canada Café...
I'm about 99% sure that if AC could double their lounge footprint in basically every airport, they would jump on the opportunity. One of the reasons the SS access restrictions are so tight is that they could not get any more space. They have been on the record many times saying they'd love to expand all their lounges. But the space has to come from somewhere. Sometimes, tenants move out and they can build something new (Cafe), or the airport undergoes an expansion and they can build something new (YYZ TB Express). And I can't recall how the SS came to be... I think there was something there before? But in general,
1. Airport space is highly sought after and hard to get.
2. They can't just start buying up leases in discontiguous blocks. Sure, any restaurant in YCD could probably be turned into a YXE/YQR-style MLL, but it's not feasible to have six YYZ Express options scattered throughout the terminal.
Originally Posted by
hoipolloi
...or giving restaurant vouchers.
This could potentially work (unlike the other suggestions), but I've had long waits at in-terminal restaurants around the world. And that's when no one was getting in for free.
Originally Posted by
capedreamer
The entire foundation of airline loyalty programs, class of service distinctions, and limited-access lounges rests on discriminating between different customers based on their perceived value to the airline. Let's not pretend AC is degrading its premium / high-tier customer experience out of belief in egalitarian values. They allowed this mess to happen due to a combination of poor planning (missing the combined effects of post-pandemic travel recovery, status extensions, and new credit card offers) and short-term thinking (selling points / status benefits to banks for profit).
Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
There are many benefits that are zero-sum. There are only so many J seats on a plane. If they're filled with credit card 25Ks upgrading Latitude rewards, SEs buying last-minute tickets may sit back in Y. If there's a lineup for the lounge, someone is going to have to wait.
Originally Posted by
newfbc
There are other things as well.. like the premium Black cards.. they can all add additional supplementary cards for $199/ea that give a lot of the privledges of the main card, including lounge access for the cardholder (and a guest?)..
Ron.
Except AC is on the record
with numbers about how they're not seeing many more visitors than before. Certainly not people who are only entitled based on a credit card or one-time pass.
It's dwell time. Dwell time. Dwell time.
Credit cards are not causing the issues.
~10% of seats on AC aircraft are J.
Some number of people in Y/PY have status that allow them and guest(s) in.
Of the remaining pax, how many do you really think are paying $600+/year for a credit for the once-a-year flight? The number is vastly lower than you seem to think.
When I flew YYZ-DEN on Tuesday, I did not have time for the MLL. That is how I like my airport visits to go. When I flew SFO-YYZ-YYT in August, the minimum connection time combined with schedule required a 3+ hour connection. I was in the domestic MLL about 15 minutes after scheduled arrival time.
And there's been a lot of scare-mongering about showing up 3 hours before your flight.
Dwell time is the cause of about 99% of issues.
I'm not trying to say AC has no blame for that, because they do, but lounge issues are entirely off-topic from this thread, and from any credit card threads.